How do you turn the folk tale "Chicken Little" into a feature-length film? You know -- acorn falls on chicken's head, chicken creates havoc by shrieking, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!", townfolks discover said acorn, end of story. The movie Chicken Little covers all of that in the first five minutes. The actual piece of sky is blue, cloudy and stop-sign-shaped, and no one in the critter-filled town of Oakey Oaks believes Chicken Little's claim. He instantly becomes the town joke, that "crazy chicken," and embarrasses his father.
The writers flesh out the background of the once-brief children's tale, repeatedly illustrating Chicken Little's (Zach Braff) unpopularity, his father's shame and their quest for redemption. Chicken Little is the tiny nerd at school, whose misfit friends are Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), a huge panicky pig; Fish Out of Water (Dan Molina), the cutest fish ever to don a water-filled-helmet; and Abby Mallard (Joan Allen), rightly nicknamed "Ugly Duckling" by the school bully.
Chicken Little desperately wants his father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), to be proud of him. Abby smartly advises him to tell his dad about how he feels and to attain "closure," but Chicken Little seems unable. He tries his luck at baseball to regain his father's admiration, which improbably turns out a success.
Alas, another piece of the "sky" falls into Chicken Little's bedroom, but turns out to be a piece of spaceship with camouflage technology. The reoccurrence of the "sky" falling kick-starts the main action of the movie, which includes Fish's abduction; another "false" panic; an alien invasion; a furry, orange, three-eyed alien running loose; War of the Worlds-style alien pods; and chaos and destruction. I'm sure you can guess the ending of this movie -- you're smart people. Hint: it's inspirational for all those small misfits out there.
The movie has its ups and downs. The story and characters are likeable, though a tad clichéd. There are some genuinely funny moments in the film, some of the physical slapstick variety, and others that are a bit wittier. A particular gem was Buck Cluck's computer announcing in an AOL voice, "You have hate mail!" the morning after Chicken Little's second chain of "false" warnings causes a town panic.
Then again, the inclusion of the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" in karaoke form flops, as well as "I Will Survive" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as cheesy inspirational background music. The animation is a bit lacking because it's essentially a 3-D cartoon, but the exaggerated style fits with the movie's wacky story.
In general, the film's non-stop frantic action allows little time to take in the story. Though charming and funny -- but not so much that it stands out from the crowd of family-oriented movies -- Chicken Little is simply average.
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